We are delighted to announce that our Chairman, Tim Richardson, was honoured with a lifetime achievement award at Goole and Howdenshire Business Awards on Friday 28 February. The event held at Goole High School was attended by local businesspeople from across the region.

It is the first time that there has been a lifetime achievement category and Tim was thrilled and humbled to be the first recipient.

Born in Howden and schooled in Scarborough Tim started his career in 1966 aged 17 delivering coal for his family business. At that time the business comprised a coal trading arm, credit loan business and travel agency. He worked in all areas of the business, working for a time in Darlington, Harrogate and York.

In 1978, married with a young family, he bought Glews Garage which at the time comprised of a single workshop, and a couple of petrol pumps with a very well known white corrugated roof and distinctive red lettering. Over the years he has worked hard to build this landmark business into a thriving motor, fuel and convenience retailer with an excellent reputation for quality products and delivery of exceptional customer service.

Always one to respond to the changing market, following the industrial disputes of 1984/85 the business came out of coal, the last bag being delivered in 1990 by 3 generations of the Richardson family.

Due to his efforts the garage is now unrecognisable from what he bought all those years ago. By the late 80’s it had grown to include a Vauxhall franchise, 24 hour filling station, service workshops and an accident and repair centre. In 1990 he took the decision to build another dealership and add a Peugeot franchise and in 1992 the filing station was re-developed into a high volume Shell service station.

The business has continued to expand and now is a £50m turnover business with 2 car dealerships and 5 filling stations, employing over 110 people locally. He has always believed that his employees are the most important part of the Company and over the years he has provided support to them both professionally and in many cases personally, many of his employees would consider him a friend as well as their boss.

In 2004 he was joined in the business by his son Joseph and in 2011 by his daughter Jane, the 5th generation of the family to work in the business.

As well as contributing a vast amount to the local business economy he has played an active role in the local community. As a young man he was a keen rugby player and had long been involved with Goole Rugby club as player and coach when in 1996 as chairman of the committee of Westfield Banks he was the instigator behind the rebuild of the Rugby and Tennis Club.

He was chairman of Boothferry Enterprise 2000, a local regeneration partnership which was successful in obtaining funding to enable local regeneration schemes to take place. He also was on the first board of the Goole Renaissance partnership committee, and he recently played an instrumental role in securing funding for the new roundabout that is currently under construction at Glews Garage, in which his company made a significant capital contribution.
He was an active member of the Chamber of Commerce serving as President in Goole and a Director in Hull.

Currently he is a valued member of the Goole Rotary Club, of which he is a past President. He was also a Chairman of Governors for Howden Junior School.

In 2013 he stepped down as Managing Director of his family business and handed the reins over to Joseph. Still involved in the business as Chairman, he still regularly imparts his words or wisdom, but he now also has time to devote time to his hobbies, gardening and renovating old farm machinery and to spending time with his family, especially his two young grandsons.

He always believed that he was the guardian of the family business for the next generation and that his responsibility as to ensure that there was a thriving and growing business to pass on, this achievement is testament to his hard work and commitment to the business, his ancestors and his family.

Tim has been and still is a staunch supporter of the place that he was born, raised and has lived all of his life. He has made his home in Howden for the last 40 years, he is a familiar face in the local pub and continues to get involved in local issues. He has passed on this sense of responsibility to his children who follow in his foot-steps to continue the legacy and values of the family business.

Never a man to seek the limelight, there is no more deserving recipient of this inaugural award.